Allan and the Ice Gods (31 page)

Presently Wi looked up from his task of watching Laleela who, having

swallowed the broth, seemed to have fallen asleep, and saw Aaka

standing by the fire and gazing at them both.

“So the Witch lives,” she said in a low voice, “and has found a nurse.

When are you going to marry her, Wi?”

Wi rose and came to her, then asked:

“Who told you that I was going to marry her? Have I not sworn an oath

upon this matter?”

“Your eyes told me, I think, Wi. What are oaths against such service

as she has done you?—though it is strange that I should live to learn

that Wi made use of a woman’s breast as a shield in battle.”

“You know the truth of that,” he answered.

“I only know what I see who pay no heed to words; also what my heart

tells me.”

“And what does your heart tell you, Wife?”

“It tells me that the curse which this witch has brought upon us has

but begun its work. She goes out to sea in her hollow log and returns

leading a host of Red Wanderers. You fight these Wanderers and drive

them away, for a time. Yet many of the tribe are dead and wounded.

What she will do next I do not know, but I am sure she has worse gifts

in her bag. For I tell you that she is a witch who has been staring at

the moon and talking with spirits in the air, and that you would have

done well to leave this darling of yours to die upon the beach, if die

she can.”

“Some wives might have held that these are hard words to use of one

who has just saved their man from death,” said Wi. “Yet if you think

so ill of her, kill her, Aaka, for she is helpless.”

“And bring her curse upon my head! Nay, Wi, she is safe from me.”

Then, able to bear no more, Wi turned and left the cave.

Outside on the gathering ground he found much tumult for here the

bodies of the dead had been carried and everybody was come together.

Women and children who had lost their husbands or fathers wailed,

making a great noise after the fashion of the tribe; men who had been

wounded but could still walk moved about, showing their hurts and

seeking praise or comfort, while others, who had come through

unscathed, boasted loudly of their deeds in the great fight with the

Red-Beards, the devils who came out of the sea.

Here and there were groups, and in the centre of each group a speaker.

In one of them Whaka the Bird-of-Ill-Omen was telling his hearers that

these Red-Beards whom they had fought and conquered were but the

forerunners of a great host which would descend upon them presently.

At a little distance, Hou the Unstable, while rejoicing in the victory

of the tribe, declared that such fortune was not to be trusted and

that therefore the best thing to do would be that they should all run

away into the woods before it turned against them. Meanwhile, Wini-wini the Shudderer went from corpse to corpse followed by the

mourners, blowing his horn over each and pointing out its wounds,

whereon all the mourners wailed aloud in chorus.

The most of the people, however, were collected round Urk the Aged,

who, his white beard wagging upon his chin, mumbled to them through

his toothless jaws that now he remembered what he had long forgotten,

namely that his great-grandfather had told his, that is Urk’s,

grandfather, that his, Urk’s great-grandfather’s great-grandfather,

had heard from his remote ancestors that once just such Red-Beards had

descended on the tribe after the appearance among them of a Witch-from-the-Sea very much like to the lady Laleela who was beloved of Wi

their chief, as was known of all, for had not he, Wi, been seen

kissing her?

“And what happened then?” asked a voice.

“I cannot quite remember,” answered Urk, “but I think that the Witch

was sacrificed to the Ice-gods, after which no more Red-Beards came.”

“Do you mean that Laleela the White Witch should also be sacrificed to

the Ice-gods?” asked the voice.

Confronted with this problem, Urk wagged his long beard, then answered

that he was not sure, but he thought that, on the whole, it might be

wise to sacrifice her, if the consent of Wi could be obtained.

“For what reason?” asked the voice again, “seeing that she warned us

of the coming of the Red-Beards, and afterward took into her own

breast the little spear that was aimed at Wi?”

“Because,” answered Urk, “after a great event, such as has happened,

the gods always seek a sacrifice, and, as none of the Red-Beards has

been taken alive, it would be better to offer up to them the Witch-from-the-Sea, who is a stranger, rather than any one of our own

people.”

Now Moananga, who was among those that heard this speech, limped up to

Urk, for the wound in his side made him walk stiffly, and seizing his

beard with one hand, slapped him in the face with the other.

“Hearken, old vile one who call yourself a wizard,” he said. “If any

should be sacrificed, I think that it is you, because you are a liar

who feed the people upon false tales of what has never been. Well you

know that this Laleela whom you urge us to kill is the noblest of

women, and that, had it not been for her, Wi, my brother and our

chief, would now be dead; indeed, that we should all be dead, since

she warned us of the coming of the Red Wanderers. She it was, too,

who, after the little spear had found her breast, the spear she bade

Pag drag out with her flesh upon it, saying no word, as I who was

present know, gave us counsel that told us how to master the Red-Beards by attacking them and throwing stones into their boats, which

afterward we did, thus killing the most of them. Yet now you would egg

on the people to sacrifice her to the Ice-gods, dog that you are.”

Then Moananga once more smote Urk upon the face, tumbling him over

onto the sand, and limped away, while all who heard shouted applause

of the words, as just before they had done of those of Urk, for such

is the fashion of crowds.

Just then Wi himself appeared, whereon Urk rose from the sand and

began to praise him, saying that there had been no such chief of the

tribe since the days of his great-grandfather’s great-grandfather.

Then all the people ran together and took up that song of praise; yes,

even those of the wounded who could walk, for in their hearts they

knew, every one of them, that it was Wi who had saved them from death

and their women from even worse things. Yes, however much they might

grumble and find fault, they knew that it was Wi who had saved them,

as they knew also that it was Laleela, the Witch-from-the-Sea, who had

saved Wi by springing in front of him and receiving the little spear

into her own breast and who, after she was stricken, yet had given

good counsel to him, to Pag and to Moananga.

Wi heard all their praises but answered nothing to them. Nay, he

pushed aside those who crowded round him and the women who strove to

kiss his hand, forcing a way through them to where the dead lay, upon

whom he looked long and earnestly. Then, having given orders for their

burial, he went on to visit those who had deep wounds, still saying

nothing. For the heart of Wi was heavy in him, and the words of Aaka

had pierced him like a spear. Remembering his oath, he knew not what

he should do, and even now, in the hour of his victory, he wondered

what Fate had in store for him and for Laleela, who had saved his

life, which he wished that she had not done.

So, from that time forward, day by day, Wi went about his tasks very

silently, saying little to anyone, because his heart was sore and he

feared lest, should he open his lips, its bitterness would escape from

them. Therefore, he kept apart from others and walked much alone, or

accompanied by Foh only, for this son of his seemed all that was left

to him. Also, he went out hunting as he used to do before he killed

Henga and became the chief, letting it be known that sitting so much

in the cave took away his health and spirits; also that, meat being

needed, he held it his duty as the best huntsman of the tribe to kill

deer, if he could, though this was not often, since, because of the

bad season, the most of the deer seemed to have left the woods.

One day, Wi followed a doe far into the forest, and having lost her

there, turned homeward. His road led him past a little pocket in the

hillside where the fir trees grew thickly. This cleft or pocket was

not more than thirty paces deep by perhaps as many wide. All round it

were steep walls of rock, and its mouth was narrow, perhaps three

paces across, no more. Outside of it was a patch of rain-washed rock

of the size of a large hut, which rock ended in a little cliff about

four spear lengths high. Below this cliff lay a patch of marsh, such

as were common in a forest, a kind of hole filled with sticky red

slime in the centre of which a spring bubbled up that could be seen

beneath the growth of marsh briars that grew on the red mud, which mud

spread out for many paces every way and at its edge was ringed round

with fir trees.

As Wi drew near to this pocket, he heard a snorting sound that caused

him to stand still and take shelter behind the bole of a big tree, for

he did not know what beast made that noise.

Whilst he stood thus, out of the narrow entrance of the cleft there

stalked a huge aurochs bull, so great a beast that a tall man standing

by its side could not have seen over its shoulder. It stood still upon

the patch of rock, looking about it and sniffing the air, which caused

Wi to fear that it had smelt him, and to crouch close behind the tree.

But this was not so, for the wind blew from the bull to him. Now, Wi

stared at the aurochs as he had never stared at anything, except at

Laleela when first he saw her in her hollow log. For, although such

beasts were told of among the tribe, they were very rare, being quite

different from the wild cattle, and he had never seen but one of them

before, a half-grown cow. It was a mighty creature with thick curved

horns, and its body was covered with black hair, while down its spine

ran a long gray streak of other lighter-coloured hair. Its eyes were

fierce and prominent, its legs were short so that its dewlap hung

nearly to the ground, and it had big cleft hoofs.

A great desire took hold of Wi to attack that beast, but he restrained

himself because he knew that he could not prevail against it, for

certainly it would toss and trample him to death. Whilst he watched

it, the bull turned and went away from him down the ledge of rock and

presently he heard it crashing a path through the forest, doubtless to

seek its feeding ground.

When it had gone Wi crept to the mouth of the cleft and looked in,

searching the place with his eyes. Then, as he could neither see nor

hear anything, with a beating heart he entered the cleft, keeping

close to the left-hand wall of rock, and worked his way round it,

slipping from tree to tree. It was empty, but at its end grew some

large firs, and beneath them, bracken, and here, from many signs, Wi

learned that the aurochs bull had its lair. Thus the trunks of the

trees were polished by its hide as it rubbed itself against them,

which showed him that this was its home; also the ground was trodden

hard with its feet, and in certain places where it was soft, torn by

its horns which it had thrust deep into the sandy soil to clean and

sharpen them.

Wi came out of the cleft and stood still, thinking. He turned and

looked over the edge of the little cliff at the morass beneath. Then

he climbed down the cliff and, by the help of a fallen tree, some few

feet out upon the morass where he tested the depth of the mud with his

spear.

It was deep for he must drive in the spear to its full length, and the

arm that held it to the elbow, before he touched the rock or hard

ground that formed its bottom. Scrambling along the fallen tree, he

did this thrice, and always found the bottom at the same depth. Then

he climbed the cliff again, and, standing before the mouth of the

cleft, Wi, the brave and cunning hunter, thought to himself thus:

“That mighty bull rests in the daytime in yonder hole. But when

evening draws in, it comes out to feed. Now, if, when it came out, or

when it returned in the morning, it found a man standing in front of

it, what would it do? Certainly it would charge him. And if the man

leapt aside, what would happen? It would fall over the cliff and be

bogged, and there the man might go down and fight it.”

Thus thought Wi, and his nostrils spread themselves out and his eyes

flashed as he thought of that great fight which might be between a

hunter and this bull of bulls wallowing together there in the slime.

Then he thought again, thus:

“The odds are great. The bull might catch the man with a sweep of its

horns and be too cunning to rush over the cliff which it knows well.

Or being so mighty, when they were at it in the mud, it might break

out and come on to him, and there would be an end. Yes, there would be

death.”

A third time Wi thought:

“Am I so happy that I should fear to face death? Have I not wondered